Paul Arden | Monday, 28 November 2016
I found the fishing rather difficult last week. It might be because I'm not now highly tuned for these difficult shots and so not making the important ones count (and I missed some easy shots) or perhaps it's because I haven't been on the fish for the past four months and so have less active locations that I know that definitely hold fish. But the fish also appear to be spread out, not as active as I'd like mid-morning and there are no baby shots to be had when things are tough. Finally there has been quite a lot of boat organising done and rod sales have prevented me exploring the far south! However...
I've found four good locations with Snakehead populations including some absolute clonkers (bigger than anything I've yet landed. I spooked an enormous fish yesterday, which ordinarily I would probably have had eat), as well as a number of "stumping" Gourami (I had two refusals on a friend's recommended fly - tying the Arden Gourami Foam Back Humpy Fuck-Up as we speak). Additionally the water level is, I believe, the lowest on record and 6m below what it is normally at this time of year and 10m below the highest I've seen it! Something I've also discovered, is the shortcomings of short heads for this (and just about any sort of fly fishing that I care to do).
I believe I have one major problem that needs solving ASAP. The manufacturers of Tyger Wire are unobtainable. Nick at Tacklebox hasn't had a reply in almost a year and I haven't had a reply to two emails now. So they've probably gone bust, which is a shame! This is a big problem for me too, because my replacement wire lands hard and spooks fish - also it sinks the fly if left static. So I need to find some replacement for this pretty quickly!
If you can offer some advice then please let me know!
I'm looking closely at an option of buying a small houseboat for the lake. Last week I saw something quite perfect. It wasn't what I expected to see, I was expecting a large houseboat that could accommodate an army. Instead I saw something that could sleep one max two guests - four at a squeeze. I'm looking for ways to make this happen. Since I expect to spend the best part of the next 8 years here it makes sense to have a little more comfort, especially for my guests!
It's funny, I feel like I'm home at the moment. Fishing all morning and evenings. Always on the water. Learning new stuff every day. The only challenge I have is being online! I manage this 2 or 3 times a week and squeeze everything I can into my time - working much of the time offline. I might try shifting North once/week which will give me evening coverage for half the week. There is a huge bay that needs exploring and a fair bit of water that is Belum way that I've overlooked so far...
An exciting if slow start back home but this week I feel great things are about to happen! I'm ready now :))) This week I'll hit the rock wall for big Stumping Gourami and I might check out the far south. East is dead but the squiggles are fishing well! One river mouth is holding a lot of fish but I'll save that for visiting friends. Curiously five of my top spots hold no fish! No doubt this is the low water height. At times like this you either fish the spots you know or cover a lot of water. My plan right now is to fish a hell of a lot of water after all I love the exploration!
Cheers,
Paul